Friendship

Being House

'The surgery was successful, we could remove the whole tumour. But as soon as we removed the Thymus, something started attacking his immune sytem, which gave us no time to look at the masses. But we guess they are responsible for it. We could so far stabilize him, but he fell into a coma. I'm sorry.'
'But if the masses are attacking him that means he's still dying.'
'Unfortunately yes. We only have a few hours left to find out what's wrong with him or there is not much more we can do.'
'Then what are you still doing here?'
It made House angry to see his friend dying and there was nothing he could do.
'We're already working on it. Again, I'm very sorry.'
With that the doctor finally left the room.
House sat down beside Wilson, watching his chest moving slowly in the rythm of the pips.
'You can't leave me like this Wilson. I haven't even paid you back for calling Cuddy yet. You just can't...'
To his own surprise he felt tears running down his face. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried like this. The pain was nearly unbearable. His hands felt the nearly empty bottle of Vicodin in his jacket. Slowly he pulled it out, staring at it for a few seconds. Then he threw it in the corner. Not this time. He wanted to suffer for his friend. He owed it to him. He wouldn't do the same mistake again. Not with Wilson.
'Wow, you really have changed, haven't you?'
Cuddys voice softly broke the silence. House didn't know how long she had already been standing there. He didn't answer. Just kept staring on Wilsons' hand.
She walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down.
'You're not even stoned, are you?'
'Do you want me to be?', he snapped back at her, but then put himself together. This wasn't the time for a fight.
'I gave all the Vicodin to Wilson. He needed it more than me.'
'Wow.'
For a while they kept staring at Wilson in silence.
'You know I can't forgive you.'
'I know. But you don't have to. I can't even forgive myself.'
'Doing that was extreme, even for you.'
'I know. I was angry, I was hurt.'
'You drove a car into my house!'
He looked up, directly into her glowing eyes.
'Of course it's not okay, I know it's not! I love you Cuddy, I always have and I always will! But I screwed it up and I can't take that back. I am dangerous, even for myself. And that's why it's better for you to be without me. Neither you, nor Rachel should have to suffer from my self-destruction anymore. You shouldn't be here.'
'Maybe I should.'
He looked at her, confused.
'Look at yourself, drowning in self-pity. Your friend is dying! And you sit around here, doing nothing! Where is the House I know? Who would fight until the last second, even if it's just to solve the puzzle. Get your ass out there and solve it!'
'The House you know is dead. A doctor doesn't just suddenly awake from death to save the world!'
'You don't have to save the world, you just have to save your friend!'
'And how exactly am I supposed to do that? Without a license and access to medical tests it's a bit hard to make a diagnosis!'
'Oh I don't know, you're the genius here!'
They were both standing now, shouting into each others faces. Suddenly House stopped, staring down at her for a moment.
'You're right...'
To her confusion, he started to grin.
'You know, I really missed those fights.'
With that he headed towards the hallway, passing the worried nurse who just came through the door.
'Yeah. Me too', Cuddy whispered to herself, watching him disappear around the corner.

'What are you doing here?'
'I'm a doctor.'
'That's probably true, but not in this hospital. Please, go back to your friend. We're doing everything we can.'
'Yeah but that's not enough.'
House took a step forward, grabbing the doctors arm.
'Security!'
'Please, listen to me. I can help you. I... I'm better than you. Just believe me.'
'Please take this man back to his friend. I'm busy here.'
A security man took Houses' arm, trying to drag him away.
'Please, I worked for Dr.House!'
'Hold on.'
The security man stopped, releasing his grip a bit. House gave him a strange look.
'Gosh, you could strangle a tree! Ever thought about changing sides? The criminal world would surely pay you a lot more.'
'You said you worked for House?'
'Yes. For 3 years. My name is Dr.Kutner. Houses' former boss is in my friends room, you can ask her, too, if you want.'
'I have to run a quick check.'
The man walked out of the lab in the direction of his office. He returned after a few minutes.
'All seems fine. No time to talk to the boss.'
He turned to the security man.
'The man can stay. He could indeed be helpful.'
'Thank you. Now, there is something I need to test. I had a case a few years ago which reminded me a lot of this...'